The court has been a goal of newly elected Cobb District Attorney Vic Reynolds.

Eligible people would not meet the criteria of legally insane, but still suffer from some form of mental illness and can be prosecuted for crimes they commit. Those are typically what Reynolds calls “nuisance crimes” and include anything from disorderly conduct to trespassing. By placing such people under the supervision of a mental health court, they will be required to attend court and counseling a certain number of times a week. Mental health professionals also will monitor their medication requirements.

The point is to make sure the people who need treatment are being treated, while keeping dangerous criminals behind bars. The mental health court is expected to be set up in similarly to the county’s two existing accountability courts — the felony drug court and misdemeanor DUI court.

In the drug court, for example, there are a certain number of phases a felon must pass through to graduate to independence. The first phase may be daily counseling and drug testing three to five times a week.

The Cobb County jail spends $252,000 a year on mental health medications. While it costs $58 a day to incarcerate an inmate, it costs $78 a day to incarcerate one with mental health issues, Charron said.

The projected annual cost of the mental health court is $178,510, a sum that breaks down into $53,550 for a case manager, $24,960 for drug testing, $70,000 for an accountability court director and $30,000 for administrative staff. Deal’s $160,847 grant would get the program up and running.

Complications with timing

Commissioner Bob Ott noticed Deal’s grant expires June 30 and got the court officials to acknowledge that the funds could not be spent after that time.

Charron said they could apply for a new grant to go into effect in July, but Ott asked what would happen if that grant didn’t come through. The county potentially could be stuck footing the bill. A further complication on Deal’s grant is that two thirds of it have to be spent by the end of the month: Friday.

Charron explained why: “By the time we received notice that we had received the funds, actually two of the six months had expired, so they prorate the amount of the $161,000 over that six-month period. In order for us to get the lion’s share of the $161,000, we would have had to had it approved by March 30 because that only leaves April, May and June, the last half of the year by the grant. By not having it approved tonight, we do sacrifice that potential money.”

Ott, who said in concept he is supportive of a mental health court, asked that the matter be tabled for two weeks until court officials could bring the Board of Commissioners a solid financial plan of how exactly the court would be funded, a decision with which the rest of the board agreed.

Charron said he would be OK with that decision. “I think conceptually everybody knows this is something that is really coming down the pike, and I got that assurance after the meeting, including from Commissioner Ott that the concept is a sound one,” he said.

Hearing that the matter was tabled, Reynolds told the MDJ, “We want to be a willing participant in the mental-health court, and we stand ready to be when it gets up and running. But we’re not involved in the financial issues on the front end.”

County makes new hire

In other business at Tuesday’s board meeting, commissioners hired Willie A. Hopkins Jr., the assistant city manager of Pompano Beach, Fla., as the county’s new support services director. The support services director oversees a staff of 320 people who manage the property management, information services, purchasing and government service centers. He also serves as the liaison to the tax assessor’s office.

Chairman Tim Lee also announced that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had informed him Cobb County was now IMAGE certified.

“We were waiting for certification from ICE,” Lee said. “We got notice today that the paperwork was finally signed off and they’re going deliver our certification to us Thursday afternoon, so we are now IMAGE certified.”

The program is called the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers, or IMAGE. “I think it’s a great milestone for the county. I think it’s a testament to the county’s commitment to make sure we don’t have anyone working for Cobb County government that might be illegal,” Lee said.

OMG! One thing, Tim isn't short of: BS! If he had the courage "to make sure we don’t have anyone working for Cobb County government that might be illegal,” he would not have backed out of the IMAGE ordinace that DA King wrote for him. Tim Lee is a liar. Helen Goreham is an idiot follower and Lisa Cupid isn't too bright.

PS why is this important news buried on the bottom of another article?

Cobb is IMAGE certified! What does that really mean? It means our government is now even bigger, and it's now more difficult for law abiding citizens to find work.

GOOD JOB B.G. KING! "Big Gov't" is your big thing and you did it again!

Go, B.G. King, go!!! Run, B.G., Run! If you held office think how big you could make our government.

Maybe you could create a SPLICE 1% tax added to every new foreign car sale (since those darn foreigners are so dangerous with their cars and all), with all proceeds to be given to the B.G. King Society to fund the Big (Government) Guy's salary!!

You have protected the city government & government workers (including yourself & commissioners), from illegals taking YOUR jobs! But you denied as much for the American workers that are out of work, due to the huge amount of illegal labor being ALLOWED?ENCOURAGED to work on county contracts, mostly the road crews, but also include county contracts for sidewalks , sewer/pipe replacement, heavy equipment operators, tree trimming/planting, landscape services, IT services, painting gov. buildings, building government buildings, building schools, brick/mason jobs, electrical work, plumbing work, carpenters, roofers, garbage/recycling collectors, etc. etc.

There are MANY Americans willing to do these jobs, but certainly NOT at the low wages companies are paying their 'illegal' workers. It's a scam,, a big rackett!!!

More contracts were awarded to DISHONEST contractors at last nights county meeting, w/out as much as a blink from, Lee, commissioners, DiMasimo, Hankerson, nor county attorney. Got your back, baby!!

It's the way the county does business,.. very, very dishonest you are, Mr. Lee!

Exactly right. Perhaps the gas line problems on Whitlock were caused by crews unable to speak English and recently "immigrated" from an area that has neither gas lines or roads?

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